You May Be as Annoyingly Picky as I Am, as a Writer
I need things just right. Maybe you do, too.
This is part of my “Art of Noticing” series, in which I learn, find, or discover the things around me that usually go unnoticed and turn them into an endless source of creative inspiration.
Today, it hit me that my needs for the perfect keyboard are SO specific, I can’t find that keyboard anymore. But the right tools make things better, so finding just the right thing is a balancing act you’ll have to decide.
I need a keyboard so specific, I’m excluding myself from the market.
I need an ergonomic keyboard, because I don’t like the wrist-torque that comes with using a standard one (and God forbid, a tiny laptop-style keyboard like the wireless one Apple gives you).
It has to be wireless, because I put it on my lap, not on my desk.
I need low-profile keys. I don’t know how people raise their fingers high enough and slap them down low enough to use full-size keys. Times ten thousand keystrokes per day, that’s just way too much unnecessary work.
And it can’t have that stupid number pad attached to the right side that nobody uses, because then it won’t be centered on my lap, and falls to one side, and hits the arms of my work chair.
There is one and only one keyboard that fits everything I need: The Microsoft Sculpt … now discontinued. I’ve started to hoard them off of eBay in the same way Elaine hoarded the Today Sponge on Seinfeld.
The lesson here is that the perfect tools make the job easier … but also that adaptability is something I’m going to be forced to consider sooner or later.
Here's how this "noticing" can influence my stories and art:
Personalized Tools, Enhanced Creativity
When I’ve got my good keyboard and no keys are breaking off, I’m in Heaven as a writer. I can work fast and efficiently without tiring. Without it, though, I make mistakes, hit keys wrong or not hard enough, get frustrated, and quit.
So that’s number one: Trying to find those right tools if you can. Investing time and resources in finding and maybe even customizing those tools can make you happier and a better creator. You can focus more on creativity and less on the mechanics of what you do.
Adapting and Innovating with Available Tools
But if you can’t, you need to adapt. Eventually, I’ll have to change keyboards. Logitech has an okay one, but that damn number pad is still to one side and that’s far from ideal, but I may have to settle.
We all need to adapt and innovate with the tools available to us. While it can be challenging to find replacements for our best tools, it also (I reluctantly suppose) opens opportunities to explore different options that might offer other advantages. As they say, you won’t know until you try.
The tools we use in writing aren’t just functional. They’re integral to our creative expression. By choosing and adapting our tools to fit our individual needs, we set ourselves up for a more fulfilling and productive creative journey … if we have to, if some bastards don’t start making keyboards without that dumb number pad.
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My wife recently bought me a "typewriter" keyboard, which makes me feel nostalgic and happy and is probably terrible for my fingers and wrists. I'm THAT old.
Yup, I'm with ya. I love writing with fountain pens, especially with italic nibs. And in January, I finally drove to the stationery shop where where they'll help you find the perfect for you pen. And I found it! I've been writing LOTS more by hand since then, and loving it! I haven't picked up any of my "old" fountain pens since then, except by accident, and then my previously favourite pen just felt "ugh" [insert full-body shudder, too]! So, yeah, I get it.